Deepfake pornography: Brussels opens investigation into Grok, Elon Musk's Ai
The European Commission wants to assess whether the company has assessed and mitigated the risks. Grok has been criticised by various parties in recent months after users in several countries accused the artificial intelligence system of generating sexualised images and posting them on X
from our correspondent Beda Romano
BRUSSELS - Large American digital companies are back in the crosshairs of the European Commission. The EU executive announced yesterday a new investigation against X, the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk. Specifically, Brussels decided to verify compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA) with regard to the artificial intelligence programme Grok, accused of having contributed to the dissemination of pornographic images on the Internet.
"Non-consensual sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent and unacceptable form of degradation," explained European Commission Vice-President Henna Virkkunen in a statement. "With this investigation, we will determine whether company X has fulfilled its legal obligations under the DSA or whether it has treated the rights of European citizens, including those of women and children, as collateral damage of its service.
The new investigation by the EU executive is to assess whether the company has adequately assessed and mitigated the risks associated with the implementation of Grok's functionalities in the EU. More concretely, the question is whether the company has 'conducted and submitted to the European Commission an ad hoc risk assessment report on the risks associated with Grok functionalities with a critical impact on their risk profile prior to their adoption'.
Separately, the Commission also extended the formal proceedings initiated against X in December 2023 to determine whether the company has adequately assessed and mitigated all risks associated with its recommender systems, in particular the impact of its recent decision to associate the artificial intelligence Grok itself, which has been on the network since 2024. The in-depth investigation, Brussels specified, will be carried out as a matter of urgency.
Grok has been criticised by various parties in recent months after users in several countries accused the artificial intelligence system of generating sexualised images and posting them on X. The British authority Ofcom is already investigating whether X has violated the national online security law. France and India have also intervened, accusing Grok of illegally creating sexualised images of people without their consent.
